Calla

Haapsalu 1996

In 1999, I
took part in the White Lady Festival in Haapsalu with an outdoor smithy. There
was a crowd around the hearth, but a woman caught my eye who had been watching
me work for quite a while. Then, the woman approached me and said in a hushed
voice: "This is my grave!" I did not know what to think and, after a
moment of silence, asked her to explain. She pointed to an iron flower on the
ground and responded: "I have always known that there will be grass
growing on my grave, but the calla blossom was missing." The calla blossom
had to wait for the right owner quite a few years and I have never forged more
of those, as the story of the lady of Haapsalu was too intriguing for me.